George Washington Friend owned 200 acres of land in Adair County, Missouri. He was a farmer who made molasses, raised hogs, cattle, and sheep. He also was a saw mill owner. George was a very intelligent man and through his hard work he became one of the few well-to-do farmers in the area. His farm was the only farm land from miles around to boast of a concrete corn crib and a concrete smoke cellar. George was a tall man of over 6 feet, and very thin. He could do anything he put his mind to do. All who had known him raved about what a fine and wonderful person he was, gentle and kind. A good man who helped out the poor when they needed help. He was set in his own ways, though, and had his own ideas about religion. Margaret Ann on the hand was very religious.

His biggest problem, it seems was his red-headed, freckled faced son, Sovereign. Being the only son and youngest child, George Friend really spoiled him, and Sovereign hated to work.

George owned an 8-horsepower Springfield steam engine he used to grind the corn to feed the hogs. He drove the steam engine with a team made up of a big old black horse named Ole Dan and a little spotted pony.

Young Sovereign was supposed to do his share of working the steam engine and he hated it. One day he decided to do something about it. He took a stick of dynamic, stuck it in a hole on one side of the steam engine and blew it to pieces. No one can remember that George even punished him for the act. Sovereign much preferred to ride bucking broncos and horses with his friends. George's daughter, Nellie, raised most of her father's colts for him.

About 1920, George and Margaret Ann decided to more or less retire and sold their farm to Irvin Thompson. They had enough to give each daughters $1,500 and their son $3000 and still retain enough to buy a place and retire. George and his wife moved to Mountianview, Missouri, where they bought some property and apparently were pretty well fleeced by some land swindlers.

Sovereign had also moved his growing family to Mountianview. They then moved to California for a little while, but came back to Mountianview, where Sovereign trucked for a living. He took every cent his parents had left and beat them out of their house in Mountianview. George Friend went broke. (According to some Sovereign could have broken 5 or 6 men's pocket). By now they were all living in the same house. Margaret Ann broke her hip and never really regained her strength or health back. She died in January of 1935 and was buried in Mountainview Cemetery. George Friend (now in his late 80's) was going blind, perhaps from diabetes. His health became very poor. Sovereign was supposed to be taking care of him, however it appears the old gentleman was being very much neglected.

Ed Rummerfield (Laura Friend's husband) went to Mountianview to visit George Friend. He found the old, blind man sitting in a chair in the corner of a dark room, all alone, wearing a pair of coveralls cut off at the knees. Ed brought George Friend back to Adair County to live with himself and Laura so they could care for him properly. George lived with them for 2 or 3 years. He contacted pneumonia in the winter and died on January 20, 1940. The night he died, the temperature was -22 degrees and the roads were knee-deep with snow. The hearse was unable to get through the Rummerfield home to get the body. Gladys Miller, one of Ed and Laura's daughters, arranged for a sled and team to take the body to Kirksville for preparation and embalming. The hearse had gotten only as far as Peter Dunham home. The sled carried the body to Dunham home to the hearse. By the time the sled arrived, the body had frozen solid because of the sub-zero weather. The body was then taken by hearse to the hospital, thawed and embalmed. He was buried in the Williamathesville Cemetery between daughters Ada and Naomi. Daughter Laura and her family were the only family in attendance. Junior Hewitt helped to dig the gravesite. The minister was Rev. P. M. Lind of Queen City, Missouri. The 6 pall bearers were John March (whose nephew Glen March is the present caretaker of the Cemetery), Steward Speers, Harve Hewitt, Byron Brassfield, Peter Durham, and Harvy Howe. All are now deceased except Peter Durham, who has provided much of this history and is presently enjoying excellent health and memories. Peter Durham had worked for George Washington Friend on and off ever since he was about 10 years old.

The Rummerfields made no effort at first to notify Sovereign of his father's death. They were most bitter at the way he had neglected the man. In the late 1920's Sovereign had decided to see about getting the old homestead back for himself. Irvin Thompson had lost the place and it was now owned by the Insurance Company. Sovereign was advised to make a bid on it to the insurance company. He drove out to the old Friend farm and found nothing remained except the concrete corn crib and smoke cellar. All the other buildings and fencing were gone. He decided to turn around, leave it alone and go back to Mountainview. The place is now owned by a man name Eddie James. The concrete structures still remain today. Sovereign has never been back to Adair County since then.

Several years after his father's death, Sovereign tried to get Laura Rummerfield's son Arthur and his family to pay to have George Friend's body moved to Mountainview and placed there next to Margaret Ann Friend's grave. They refused.

The Cemeteries where both George Washington Friend and Margaret Ann Friend are buried are lovely grounds and beautifully cared for. All tombstones are intact and very lovely. The only one missing marker over baby Naomi Friend's gravesite. The cemetery records indicate that at one time a metal marker stood there, but is now gone.

Most of this information was gathered to 1980 by William and Barbara Evans. William is a great grandson of Emerson Floyd and Nellie Madge (Friend) Harris. The information was given by Arthur Rummerfield, Zelma Neiderheiser, Peter Dunham, Floyd Harris and Cemetery Records.